


To Save a Merman

by whitehorsetiger



Series: Broken Ocean [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A little angst, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Friendship, Healing, Injury, M/M, Mer keith, marine biologist lance, mer shiro, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 12:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13007886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitehorsetiger/pseuds/whitehorsetiger
Summary: Lance had seen it too, something bright red fluttering lightly behind the ship. He peered around the edge of the ship."Oh my god," Hunk said softly.That pretty much summed it up, Lance made his way over to the figure laid on the sand. It was a mer. It wasn't like Lance had never seen one before, hell he, Hunk and Pidge worked in a place where they rescued injured ones, not having seen one would be unusual. This one though, was in very bad shape and seemed to have been that way for a while. There was a couple of large bites on his torso and tail, blood streaming out of these into the water. He was also tangled up in a net, twisted around his tail and tangled in the ship. What was even more shocking though, was that the mer was still conscious. Deep violet-blue eyes watching Lance cautiously.When out on a diving trip, Lance finds an injured mer. Bringing back to the facility where he works, Lance makes it his duty to help the mer recover from his injuries.Keith, while on a journey to find his brother, is attacked by a volatile pod of mers. Not expecting to survive the encounter, he is surprised when he is rescued by a diver. Even more surprised when the diver turns out to be a cute and kind human.





	To Save a Merman

 

"I'm going to hurl," Hunk groaned, leaning against the side of the boat.  
"You didn't have to come," Pidge said, rolling her eyes.  
"And leave you two to do this by yourselves?" Hunk said.  
"We'd have managed," Pidge shrugged.  
Hunk simply groaned, resting heavily on the railing looking a bit green.  
"Come on buddy, it's going to be fun!" Lance laughed, "At least you're not as bad as you were."  
Hunk groaned, "Thanks buddy."  
Lance lent against the wheel of the boat, looking over the deck and ocean. They'd been sailing for a little while, heading towards a shipwreck a distance away from shore and a little deep down.  
"We're getting close," Pidge said, tapping away on her laptop.  
She was perched under the shelter on the deck, surrounded by bits and pieces of her own homemade tech. Lance had no idea what half of it did, but it always helped them in some way so he didn't need to know.  
"Nice," Lance said.

The anchor was dropped, Lance had tugged on his wetsuit and was just setting up his diving equipment.  
"Alright, I have full filming capabilities in your mask, and a waterproof camera," Pidge said, "So, just don't go swimming headfirst into the ship, or any rocks."  
"Good to know," Lance said, tugging on his equipment.  
"And don't drown," she added.  
"I'll do my best," Lance chuckled.  
"Alright, down you go," Pidge said brightly, "We'll be watching you from on the boat."  
"Of course you will," Lance chuckled, slipping his regulator in before dropping backwards off the boat.

The water was a little chilly, and almost crystal clear. He could see the ship down there, only a little shrouded in darkness.  
"Ok, that's it," Pidge said, Lance rolled his eyes, "Just keep heading down."  
Swarming silver fish were flittering around the sides and inside the wreck, weaving in and out of the shattered windows and the small amount of life that had attached itself to the sides. Lance kept heading down, pulling out the camera to take a quick snapshot of the entire thing.  
"Ok, we want to get a full recording of this place," Hunk said, "So just swim around it."  
Lance flicked his fins and began a slow circuit of the ship, looking in through shattered windows and doors with instructions from Pidge and Hunk.  
"Wait, what's that?" Pidge asked suddenly.  
Lance had seen it too, something bright red fluttering lightly behind the ship. He peered around the edge of the ship.  
"Oh my god," Hunk said softly.  
That pretty much summed it up, Lance made his way over to the figure laid on the sand. It was a mer. It wasn't like Lance had never seen one before, hell he, Hunk and Pidge worked in a place where they rescued injured ones, not having seen one would be unusual. This one though, was in very bad shape and seemed to have been that way for a while. There was a couple of large bites on his torso and tail, blood streaming out of these into the water. He was also tangled up in a net, twisted around his tail and tangled in the ship. What was even more shocking though, was that the mer was still conscious. Deep violet-blue eyes watching Lance cautiously.  
"Lance! Bring him up! We need to get him to the centre!" Pidge shouted in his ear suddenly, making him wince.  
Lance really wished he could reply, but instead began taking slow steady strokes towards the mer. He tensed, black-tipped fins fluttering nervously as Lance got closer. Slowly, ever so slowly so to not startle him, Lance reached into his belt and grabbed his pocket knife.  He'd started carrying one around for situations such as this, all too many times caught without. The net was a thin wire one, clearly cutting into the mer's skin and scales. Carefully, Lance began to cut it away. The mer seemed to relax when he realised what Lance was doing, watching him with heavy-lidded eyes. He seemed to be losing his fight with consciousness, eyes dipping closed before snapping open with a shake of his head. Very carefully and very slowly, Lance cut the mer free, finally getting to the point where he could pull him free. The mer seemed to have given up on his fight with consciousness, limply floating in the water. Lance could see his gills fluttering lightly, so he was still alive. Hooking his arms under the mer's armpits, Lance began his steady accent to the surface. Hopefully he's be able to patch the poor thing up enough that they'd make it back to the centre without him dying.

****

Keith was having a bad day, hell he was having a bad year. Ever since his brother had gone missing, the mer had been having a bad time. He'd been attacked more times by territorial mer than he cared to count, mostly just snaps at his fins. As he'd passed over the trench, he hadn't expected the attack. He hadn't scented any other mer's in the water, hadn't even known when they were right on top of him. Until a set of sharp teeth were sunk into his tail. Keith howled, whipping his head around. The deep mer had unhinged its jaw, locking it around his tail. Keith snarled and bared his own teeth to bite. Another deep mer gabbed him though, sinking teeth into his chest. Keith thrashed, trying to shake them off. He headed up, towards the sunlight trying to ignore the pain as he was bitten and scratched again and again. Keith scratched at them furiously, hissing and howling as he swam up. They released him as he hit the surface waters, breeching above the waves. The sunlight was too much for them. As he hit the water again, Keith swam away as fast as he could while bleeding heavily. He wasn't paying attention, not to where he was going anyway. That was why he didn't notice the net before it was too late. Keith thrashed and fought against it, twisting himself and powering away until the net was tangled around him. Trapping his body and forcing him to the ground, shaking with exhaustion.

Keith didn't expect to see the diver, to be honest he wasn't expecting to see anything or anyone. He had seen divers before, had avoided them mostly, he couldn't exactly get away though. He tensed and moved away when the diver pulled out a knife, relaxing as he was freed from the net. Well, at least something good was happening today, he supposed. It didn't matter though, he was starting to feel dizzy and tired from blood loss. Being freed from the net would probably not help that. Keith was starting to doze, he couldn't really find it in himself to continue fighting unconsciousness.

He blinked awake very slowly with a nasty itch along his tail and back, surprisingly warm resting on his front on something soft. He felt very out of it, still kind of sleepy. Keith moved carefully, trying to find out where he was.  
"Oh? You're awake?" a soft voice said.  
Keith jerked, surprised, snapping his eyes open. He was hanging off something, looking down at something smooth and blue. He tried to push his head up, but whatever he was resting on was not a hard surface, or fixed down. It swung and he collapsed back down. The voice from earlier, muffled slightly, laughed. Keith frowned, pushing himself off the hammock. He flipped over, looking up at the shimmering surface of the water. Flicking his tail, Keith bobbed to the surface, carefully lifting his head above the surface.  
"Hey!" the other mer said.  
Keith bobbed over cautiously, looking over at her. There was a small ledge by her, a large net separating the two of them. Keith grabbed the ledge, tail bumping into a smooth surface under water.  
"Where am I?" he asked, looking around.  
Everything was bathed in pale yellowish light, the net separating the other mer from him seemed to be in a smallish square around him.  
"You're in isolation," the other mer said, "This is a place where they help things get better, when you get a bit better you'll be moved to the large outdoor tank and then rereleased back into the ocean."  
Keith blinked at her, letting out a heavy breath. He'd heard of these sorts of places, where injured mer were taken, only to show up a while later with their injuries healed. Apparently they were strange places.  
"I was hit by a propeller," the other mer said soflty.  
Keith winced, he could imagine what her injuries were like.  
"You're lucky," he replied.  
She smiled, "Yeah, what about you?"  
"I was attacked," Keith said.  
"Ah," she nodded, "Don't scratch your stitches, you'll aggravate the injuries."  
Flipping around, she dove back under the water, vanishing in a flick of blue fins. Keith blinked at her retreating figure. He let go of the side, looking down at the itchy part of his tail, wondering what stitches were. Guessing they were the white things running the length of what was the bite, Keith decided to leave well enough alone. He didn't want to be in here very long. A nap would be nice.

****

Lance taps the end of his pen on the clipboard, humming lightly to himself.  
"Lance!" Allura shouted, jogging over paper in hand.  
"What's up 'Lura?" he asked, "Couldn't wait to see my beautiful face again."  
Playfully rolling her eyes, she shoved the paper into his hand.  
"I need you to take a look at the new mer, he should be coming around right about now," she said.  
Lance looked down at the paper, the file really with all the information on their newest mer. A description, lists of his injuries and where he was found. Lance clipped it into his clipboard, smiling brightly.  
"No problem princess,I need to go check on Plaxum anyway," he said.  
Allura smiled, "Thank you, we've had some issues in the lab, actually if you have time after checking on them head over, we could really use the extra hand!"  
She shouted all of this as she walked away from him, shouting the last part as the door closed behind her. Lance huffed out a laugh, switching over the new mers and Plaxum's charts on his clipboard. He'd check on Plaxum first, it would probably be easier.

Clambering up the stairs to the top of the tanks, Lance strolled along the catwalk between the tanks, pulling his keys from his belt. Unlocking the door to Plaxum's tank, stepping out onto the small platform over the water. He looked through their file on her quickly, checking over the details. Plaxum surfaced suddenly.  
"Lance!" she said brightly.  
"Hi Plax," he replied, "I'm here to check on your injuries, so can I take a look?"  
Plaxum smiled, "Yes, of course you can."  
She hauled herself all the way out of the water, rolling onto her front so Lance could take a look at her back. The fine almost completely healed stripes along her back were a relief to see. Lance had seen when she'd come in, torn apart by a boat's propeller. He even assisted with her surgery, stitched up the horribly torn up skin. Checking down the list of things he needed to look out for, he jotted notes down on her condition.  
"Excellent," Lance smiled brightly, "We'll probably be able to move you out soon."  
"Really?" Plaxum asked, pushing herself up onto her arms.  
"Yep, a couple of days in there and we can release you."  
She grinned brightly, "Thank you!"  
"No problem."

Lance was not expecting to see the new mer when he walked into the tank, the lights in it were dimmed to be easier on him as he recovered from the anaesthetic. It was also no surprise the hammock that had supported the mer while he had slept was empty. Checking his watch, Lance noted down the time idly. He spotted the head above the water in his peripheral vision, not looking directly at him, Lance knelt down. He continued to check through the chart, there wasn't very much in it, not even a name. The head was steadily coming closer, curiosity drawing him closer to where Lance was.

****

Keith heard the interaction between the human, Lance, and Plaxum. He even bobbed to the surface to watch a little. It was strange, very strange. So when the human came into his tank, Keith couldn't help but swim closer in curiosity. Lance was a pretty human, he could see that. Smooth tanned skin, long limbs, pretty face. Suddenly he looked up and Keith was frozen. His eyes were stunning, then he smiled and oh that was even better. Keith was frozen, flicking his fins to remain still in the water.  
"Hey," Lance said.  
Keith bobbed a little further out of the water, so his whole head was out of the water.  
"How are you feeling?" Lance asked.  
Keith blinked at him, tilting his head to one side. Swimming slightly closer.  
"I need to check to see how the anaesthesia has worn off," Lance continued, sitting himself down, "Also a name would be nice to add to the records."  
"I feel kind of sleepy," Keith replied softly.  
Lance nodded, "Yeah that's normal."  
"My tail is itchy," Keith added.  
"That too," Lance nodded, "Any pain?"  
Keith shook his head, resting his hands on the ledge by where Lance was crouched.  
"Good, ok, I'll head over a bit later to check again," Lance said, standing up.  
Keith was now fact-to-foot with him, human feet were strange.

"Keith," the mer said softly.  
"What?" Lance asked.  
"That's my name."

****

A week passed, Lance was run ragged. So many creatures were brought in for treatment, the local mer pod seemed to be accidentally beaching themselves. Which meant checking them, the problem was there didn't seem to be anything wrong with them, even they couldn't explain why they'd swam up onto the beach. So they'd had little choice but to release them back. He also had to keep an eye on their in patients, in isolation and in the outdoor tank and he was helping with the research and testing out Pidge's new equipment. Plaxum was released into the large tank, she'd be released back at the beach soon. Keith was rapidly getting better too, he was kind of grumpy and a little standoffish but Lance couldn't help but find himself liking the mer. Keith had a wicked sense of humour, he seemed to enjoy teasing Lance and hearing him talk about his life and family. Keith had very little to say about his own life, Lance didn't mind all that much.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Lance asked brightly as he walked into the tank.  
Keith hauled himself out of the water in a flurry of red and black scales and fins.  
"Good," he nodded, ear fins twitching.  
"Excellent," Lance said, scribbling it down, "Can I..."  
His voice faltered and faded off in surprise as something cold brushed under his eye. Lance turned to Keith, who had a serious frown on his face, dark eyes studying him carefully.  
"I'm tired," Lance said, "Allura's been running me ragged."  
"Oh," Keith said, pulling his hand back, "Anything interesting?"  
Lance smiled, "Just work, things around here. The local mer pod have been beaching themselves recently, we've been looking into why."  
"That's not good," Keith frowned, "Are they alright?"  
"Other than beaching themselves? Yeah, nothing wrong with them," Lance shrugged, letting out a long breath.  
Keith tilted his head to one side, thoughtful expression on his face  
"I can't think of any reason," he shrugged.  
"Well we're having a nightmare with it, they can't even explain why they were beaching themselves!" Lance exclaimed.  
Keith chirruped softly, resting his hand on the inside of Lance's elbow. The webbing between his fingers was soft a pale translucent red, he was rubbing up and down Lance's arm. Not even seeming to realise what he was doing.  
"So can I take a look at your stitches?" Lance asked with a smile.

 Lance smoothed his finger either side of the injuries, gently checking for pain and swelling.  
"Looks like you can have them out tomorrow," Lance said, "Then we can move you to the big tank with the others, then back into the ocean."  
"Oh, ok," Keith did not seem too happy about that, but before Lance could ask though his radio crackled to life.  
"Lance, I need you to head to the cove, now please," Allura's voice crackled.  
"See you later," Keith said, before slipping into the water.  
"Yeah," Lance said softly to the rippling water.

The cove was where long-term or those who really didn't want to leave lived, or at least returned every couple of weeks for a check up. He jogged down the stone steps and across the sand, over to where Allura was perched on the rocks.  
"Hey princess, what's up?" he shouted.  
"Hi Lance," a voice Lance hadn't heard in a while shouted.  
"Shiro! You're back! Any luck?" Lance grinned running over to the mer.  
He shook his head, face dropped sadly.  
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lance said.  
Shiro had washed up on their beach just under a year ago, his right arm so shredded they'd been forced to amputate, scars coating his entire body. It had been a long recovery, but now Shiro would leave for weeks at a time. Apparently he was looking for his younger brother, someone he hadn't seen in a year.  
"I hear it's been a little hectic round here," Shiro asked, a light smile on his face.  
"It's been insane!" Pidge said, walking over with Hunk in tow, "Everyone has been beaching themselves lately!"  
Shiro nodded thoughtfully, "I can look into it if you want me to? Do a little recon around the island?"  
"That would be helpful, thank you," Allura smiled, "Maybe tomorrow though, you need to rest, and you need to get back to work!"  
"You're the one who called us all out here," Lance grumbled good naturedly.  
"I did, and now you need to get back to work," Allura smiled.

****

Keith was getting fed up with the tank, it was way too small. He also needed to continue the search for his brother, he couldn't exactly do that while in here. However, he couldn't help but enjoy the fact he was being looked after, the fact he could rest without worry, he actually had people to talk too. It was nice. Keith curled his tail around his tail, resting his chin on it. His fins flicked lightly, brushing along his skin lightly. There was also the matter of Lance, what should Keith think of Lance. He was a beautiful human, his skin really was as smooth as it looked, his eyes reminded Keith of the ocean and Keith loved the ocean. Not only that, but the way he could make Keith smile, make him laugh. He huffed lightly, shaking his head. Nope, he should not be thinking about that, he had other things to do.

Keith woke up to the sound of singing, it was very muffled. He perked his head up, stretching out his back. With a lazy flick of  his tail, Keith swam up to the surface. The net that had surrounded his tank had been removed after two days, meaning he could swim right to the front and rest over the edge, looking down at the walkway. Of course it was Lance and of course his voice was really nice. He was walking between the tanks, stacks of clipboards in his arms. Tilting his had to one side, Keith couldn't help but smile lightly at him, watching the human wiggle his hips to the music he was listing to.  
"Nice dancing!" Keith shouted, not being able to resist.  
Lance squealed, dropping his clipboards.  
"Hey!" he grumbled back, "They were all organised."  
Keith laughed,  watching as Lance pick up the clipboards, grumbling to himself.  
"It's just too easy," Keith said, grinning at him, "You're so jumpy."  
"I am not," Lance grumbled back, "You just caught me off guard."  
He was pouting, which Keith could not help but find adorable.  
"And that means you're not jumpy?" he chuckled.  
"You startled me!"  
"That makes you jumpy!"  
Lance's pout deepened, his eyes narrowing. He turned away with a huff.  
"You have a nice voice," Keith blurted out, feeling himself flush.  
"What?" Lance sputtered.  
"For a human," Keith said, "You have a nice voice for a human."  
"I..." Lance started.  
Keith plunged underwater, to save himself any more embarrassment. Lance hesitated before leaving, Keith couldn't help but watch him go.

Allura removed his stitched that afternoon, he would be moved to the large tank the next day, with other mers. He was really not looking forward to that.  
"Hey buddy," Lance said, dropping to sit beside him on the platform.  
"Hi," Keith replied.  
"So, you don't seem all that thrilled about moving to the big tank?" Lance asked softly.  
Keith sighed, dropping his chin in his hands.  
"I don't get on with others very easily," he muttered.  
Lance fake-gasped, resting a hand over his chest.  
"Really?"  
"Shut up," Keith grumbled, "But I've travelled all over the place and have not found any of them that have not ignored, or attacked me."  
Lance hummed, leaning back on his hands.  
"Well, it's a bit different here," he said, "Everyone sort of has to get along."  
"Great," Keith grumbled.  
"Come on, you guys live in pods, I'm sure you can pull some social skills out, maybe, possible, I mean you've got to try," Lance shrugged.  
"I haven't lived in a pod in years, hell I've barely even spoken to another mer in a year," Keith huffed lightly.  
"Damn Keith," Lance said softly, "That's gotta suck."  
Keith shrugged, "It's ok, I had Shiro."  
Lance seemed to freeze, blinking.  
"Who?" he asked.  
"Shiro, my brother," Keith said, frowning slightly, "Are you alright?"  
"I, I, um yes! I just remembered I have something to do!" Lance shot up to his feet, darting out of the door.  
"Lance! Lance!" Keith shouted after him, frustrated he couldn't run after him, "What? What's happened?"  
But the human was gone.

Keith was on edge all night, circling around and around the tank. He didn't know what he was more bothered by. The fact he was being moved to a tank with other mers, or Lance's odd behaviour. He'd finally managed to drift off when the sound of rattling and an engine. Perking up from the curl of his tail, Keith watched as the same strange thing that had transported Plaxum away parking in front of his tank.  
"You ready to go buddy?" Lance asked as Keith broke the surface.  
Keith's fins fluttered nervously.  
"There's been a change of plans, we're moving you to the cove instead of the tank," Lance continued rambling, "You've just got to promise not to wander off before we give the all clear, don't want you dying out there after we made you all better."  
Keith, not all that sure what was going on, nodded. The hammock was lowered into the water, Keith swam into it.  
"Stay as still as you can in there!" Lance shouted, "Ok, bring it up."

Keith was rested on the back of the vehicle, still in the hammock, Lance stood beside him.  
"What's going on?" Keith asked.  
Lance smiled, "We're moving you."  
He hopped around the back of it, securing Keith with large straps to stop him sliding off.  
"Ok, we're good to go!" Lance shouted, jumping off onto the ground again.  
"Lance! You're not answering me!" Keith growled in frustration, "Lance!"  
But Lance had already run off, to who knows where. Beating the part of his tail that was not tied down, Keith glowered at the tanks as he passed them. God, that human could be annoying.

They were somewhere outside, on a long concrete platform, right by the ocean. Keith took a deep breath, letting the salty air coat his lungs. He had missed it, missed the endless expanse, the smell, the sound.  
"Ok, here we are!" Lance shouted suddenly, from somewhere.  
The truck jolted to a stop, Keith flexed his fingers. Lance appeared in his field of view again, hopping around to unbuckle him.  
"Alright, here we go," Lance grinned brightly, "Lift him up."  
Keith had given up getting answers from Lance, instead settling for glaring at him. The human had the audacity to laugh.  
"Trust me, you'll love this!"  
Keith growled and snapped his teeth lightly, not really menacing, just a little irritated.  
"Yeah, yeah, tell me about it later," Lance said, "Ok, let's get him in the water."  
Keith gripped the hammock lightly as it was moved, he didn't like how it swung occasionally. He burbled softly, still glowering down at Lance. Lance simply smiled and waved, the jerk. Keith was lowered into the water, pushing out of the hammock and resurfacing.  
"Ok seriously? What's going on?" Keith shouted.  
"Keith?" A very familiar voice said.  
Keith froze, fins twitching. He very slowly spun around, eyes wide. Shiro looked different, a shock of white hair, a missing arm and so many scars.  
"Shiro," Keith said softly.  
He was suddenly pulled into a one-armed hug, Keith squeezed back.  
"You're really here," Shiro said, pulling back to look at Keith.  
Keith nodded, "What happened to you?"  
Shiro smiled sadly, "It's a long story."

  
The sound of sobbing broke through the peaceful atmosphere. Keith looked over to the shore. Hunk was sobbing, Lance gently patting his arm. Pidge was looking at the two of them like they were insane.  
"You guys are weird," she said.  
"It's an emotional moment you robot!" Lance said.  
"For them," Pidge said, sighing.  
Lance opened him mouth to argue, but never got it out. Pidge gave him a rough shove. Lance squealed, before hitting the water. Keith darted forward, but needn't have worried as Lance surfaced a slit second later.  
"Oh, you are so dead!" Lance yelled.  
Pidge began to run as Lance flung himself out onto the beach, running after her. It didn't take long, he grabbed her around the waist, hauling her over one shoulder. She was yelling and swearing, kicking her legs and punching his back. Lance wandered to the end of the concrete area, where Hunk was standing.  
"Don't you dare! Don't! Lance!" she yelled and screamed as Lance jumped back into the water.  
"You asshole! You complete and utter asshole!" Pidge yelled among her sputtering.  
Lance was laughing, even as Pidge started to splash him, swimming away as quickly as he could. Keith smirked lightly before diving under the water. Slipping through the water, Keith caught up to Lance easily. Launching himself out of the water, he landed on top of the human, forcing them both underwater. He released him almost immediately, bobbing back to the surface. Lance was staring at him, spluttering and spitting water out of his mouth.  
"That's cheating!" Lance yelled, "You're a mer! Automatic cheating!"  
Keith laughed, splashing water in his face, causing him to cough and sputter more.  
"Hunk help!" Lance shouted.  
"I got you buddy!" Hunk yelled, dive-bombing in after them.  
"Yeah! It is on!"

****

Lance sat out on the beach, listening to the sound of the ocean and looking up at the stars. He took a deep breath, letting his eyes slipped closed as he was lulled into relaxation by the sound of the waves.  
"Lance?" Keith called out.  
"Yeah?" Lance hummed.  
"Mind if I join you?"  
Lance opened his eyes, Keith was just resting in the surf, watching him carefully.  
"Sure."  
Keith dragged himself up the beach beside Lance, rolling over onto his back. He lazily flexed his fins, spreading them out over the sand. His scales sparkled in the moonlight, vivid red fading to black at the end of his tail. Lance looked away hurriedly, feeling his face heating up. Yes, he could admit the mer was attractive, beautiful even. He also had a lot of fun talking to him, however, Keith was a mer, Lance was human. Not only that, but as soon as he was better, Lance had no doubt that him and Shiro would be gone.  
"Lance," Keith said softly.  
Lance hummed and looked over to him, noticing for the first time the speckled white and pink shell in his hand.  
"I want you to have this," Keith said, in a rush, shoving the shell at Lance.  
"Um, thank you? I haven't got you anything though," Lance frowned.  
"Ah no, you don't," Keith groaned, burying his face in his hands, "Shiro said you wouldn't."  
Lance tilted his head to one side. Rubbing his face, Keith returned his hands to his lap.  
"Look, ok, so when a mer, um, likes someone, they get them a present to ask too start courting. So what I'm saying is I would like to start courting you, if that's alright," Keith said all of this in a massive rush.  
Lance was not all that sure he was interpreting what Keith was saying correctly, it sounded like Keith was asking him out. Keith seemed to be curling in on himself the longer Lance drew out the pause.  
"Lance, please say something," he mumbled.  
"You're asking me out?" Lance faltered.  
"I don't know what you mean?" Keith said hesitantly.  
Lance let out a long breath, he hoped what he was going to do next would not be misunderstood. Gripping Keith's chin, Lance turned his head. Leaning forward, he pressed their lips together gently, pulling away after a couple of seconds.  
"That sort of thing?" Lance asked.  
The noise Keith made was somewhere between a wine and a squeak, his eyes wide and glittering in the moonlight. He seemed to snap out of it suddenly, a smile spreading across his face. Keith lent forward, pressing their lips together again, cupping the back of Lance's head. He pulled back gently after a moment.  
"Yeah, that sort of thing."  
Lance couldn't help the smile that spread over his face. It made it difficult for the two of them to kiss, but neither seemed to care as they pressed their lips together again and again.

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably end up being a series...because I just don't know when to stop.
> 
> Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this fic.


End file.
